News

In the current oil-price environment we have all seen the tremendous decline in the number of active rigs across the country, in part led by steep attrition in the far-from-market Bakken and the less bountiful non-core acreage in the Eagle Ford. But there have been a few play areas that, though they have certainly suffered from the downturn, have kept activity levels up better than the national norm.

Previously we have discussed Oklahoma, led by its STACK and SCOOP; the Permian Basin’s Midland and Delaware basins, and recently the Utica Shale in Ohio.

But there is one play that pops up in a lot of operator presentations and analysis and news that we haven’t touched on recently, the mighty Niobrara, and in particular the oil rich donut of acreage in Weld County, CO.

Geology

The rock is always the most important factor, so let’s start there. I asked one of the geologist’s upstairs (Tiffany Guiltinan) to send me some info on what their team has been working on in Weld County. This first image breaks down the different tops that the team has identified and picked throughout the play area (the Chalks and the Marls, etc.), and also the resulting zones (Niobrara A, B, C, Fort Hays, etc.). On the right is an example of the impact faulting can have on a section – in this case the Fort Hays limestone has been faulted out in the second log from the right. She wasn’t sure if that was interesting or not, but I thought it was.

She also sent me a few...